Beat Fashion Survives Trend City

As published in AoideMagazine.com

The Beat Generation practically invented cafe culture. They were also known for very smoky poetry readings.

When I was but a dorky, hormonally and socially-challenged teenager, my parents moved from one white suburban enclave to another - thus nullifying the wardrobe I had painfully acquired over the years to fit in with the in-crowd at school. At best, the clothes ensured my safety in the hallways. Where I came up, people still dressed proudly in 1950’s preppie couture - khakis du jure, Ralph Lauren everything, navy sportscoats, and even penny loafers. Going sockless regardless of the season was de rigueur. If they could have, my former community would have surrounded itself with a wall to prevent the outside from getting in (and probably vice versa, for all I knew). Diversity wasn’t their bailiwick.

My family moved to a larger community that openly acknowledged that the year was 1990 and, at my new school, kids of all colors (ok, most colors) wore modern clothing and dressed according to their clique. Otherwise, the popular kids set the dress code for the rest of the school. Those who stood out, did so intentionally.

The brainiacs wore hand-me-downs. Skaters sported shredded jeans and vans. Pre-law types (debaters) dressed like the kids at my old school but didn’t accept me due to my lack of generational wealth. Everyone had a look and a posse to back up their authenticity. In general, most people wore pegged jeans. Guys wore their baseball hats backwards. High tops. Hoodies. Basically, sportswear city for boys. Girls had bangs. Big bangs. They wore a similar variety of clique-nitch gear. They dressed to impress their friends or some boy (never me) or for some school spirit-related reason. Some looked like they were already lawyers. Others rebelled in slashed up black jeans and worn Metallica t-shirts.

I looked like Richie Cunningham.

The “rummies” (as my folks derisively labeled them, as if children were alcoholics, and kids who wore black were ‘bad seeds’) were the first clique to quasi-accept me; quasi because I needed to ask if I could hang out with them. There was not a welcome sign. We met smoking behind the school. My presence was tolerated. Eventually, a girl with feline grace and fathomless black pools for eyes gave me some fashion and social advice for acceptance:

Just wear black.

That way I wouldn’t look like everyone else. Dare to be different! Just like the rest of us. Perhaps now would be a good time to mention, if you haven’t already assumed, they dressed in black. Like their predecessors, the punks and the burnouts. Or like their antecedents, the nihilists. But they all had to start somewhere, a place from which they could borrow and learn to be minimalists in their wardrobe and everywhere else. To meet the twentieth century’s founding fashion fathers (and mums), you need look back no further than the decades after World War II when the Beat Generation directed the cultural scene from smoky coffeehouses and donned the style that would punctuate outfits up to this very day.

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Let’s set aside irony and my failed teen years for a moment and discuss Beat fashion and why it remains a staple in the closet of everyone from penniless artists to prime ministers to your friendly neighborhood teacher. If you asked the Beats themselves - the Kerouac’s, the Cassidy’s, the Ferlinghetti’s, they would deny their own existence. As a “generation,” they wanted to be invisible. When pressed for a firmer definition, something that could go in a dictionary, Kerouac said that “beat” meant being exhausted with the pace and direction of the world, with the lack of love, the cruelty and hatred, rampant consumerism, and always another war just around the corner. The Kerouac crew were as anti-war as they were anti-establishment. They also subscribed to the literal, concrete definition of the Beats - tired, penniless, and depressed. Kerouac also liked to include “beatific” as part of the code too, as if there was something saintly about life as a Beat, about surviving the decidedly Bohemian existence.

Beat writers are probably the most revered icons of the Beat Generation bunch because, besides the musicians, they were the most visible in the larger cultural sense. Kerouac went so far as to go on Firing Line with William F. Buckley for an interview (wearing a sportscoat but zero tie). Drunk, of course. Afterwards, he was back in a flannel and jeans. In the pictures included with this article, we can see Jack Kerouac photographed living and working in everything from Pendleton-style shirts and khakis or corduroy slacks to jeans and t-shirts. He and his literary compatriots stayed warm in old bomber jackets, twill work jackets, Irish knit sweaters, and navy pea coats. Rarely, a stitch of black.

Raising their profile late in the movement, the Beats and their influential style were the recipients of one of the world’s great homages when a rag tag gang of British teens brought rock and roll to US shores. They called themselves The Beatles. They had a profound impact on the lives of generations to come, as the Beats did on the literary scene.

Whatever The Beatles wore became the day’s trend. The band and The generation offer constant instances and coincidences in written and oral history linking The Beatles with the Beat Generation. There’s the name, of course. They were also artistic contemporaries moving in close, occasionally overlapping circles. John Lennon is said to have read On the Road and loved it. Paul McCartney and Allen Ginsberg became close friends and created a spoken word label in the late 1960s called ‘Zapple.’ John Lennon and George Harrison were present at Allen Ginsberg’s 39^th birthday but left shortly after Ginsberg disrobed and hung a “do not disturb sign on his cock.” Ginsberg later took a pilgrimage to Liverpool. Lennon shared that he used to “draw a magazine at art school that he named the “Daily Howl” after Ginberg’s famous poem. For years, the band was rarely photographed out of their black suits. The cultural reach of the Beat style went global.

This is about more than the arts and letters of pop culture intersecting with fashion; it’s capturing the essence of counterculture in an outfit, which isn’t as simple as replacing colorful clothing with black. Like a painting, there was a purpose behind every brushstroke. There was the philosophy of Minimalism. When you boil down the positions of both band and the beat generation, minimalist is at the crux of their worldview. Being a Beat means nullifying the areas in life that don’t fall under the Beat influence. Like jobs and traffic. Bad haircuts. Shopping centers and shitty healthy. Or nuclear weapons. All you need is love, man.

Lou Reed, legendary singer of The Velvet Underground, who was profoundly influenced by the Beat poets, memorably sang in Heroin that “I want to nullify my life.” I suppose that Reed meant that when he was so high and thought death was knocking politely, he could still exist within his dreams without consequences, live his confused fantasy life in his mind while at the threshold of Death’s door, feeling none of the pain gravity exerted on him when sober, just beyond the reach of those who only wanted him to conform or sing for his supper. A virtual force of nature, Reed, like his Beat predecessors, wanted to act without consequences and flout the rules. Any rule. Every rule. It didn’t matter. Not that they cared to spend any time in the hoosegow, where they appropriated denim as another element of the Beat look. Denim and black were the ultimate negation of fashion. Nothing says “anti-society” than wearing clothing made of fabric fit only for prisoners.

There was a seduction in its simplicity. Nothing matched black like black. Pop culture could have its colors and conformity. The counterculture would take black and intellectual, artistic freedom. Reed and The Beats figured out that life was too long to spend it choosing an outfit, suffering fools in a nine-to-five job, suffocating under a steep mortgage, disciplining insane children, placating a wife at the glass ceiling; basically, living most days attempting to superficially impress a society that avoided them anyway.

Was life worth the grand hassle?

Am I on this Earth to plow fields?

Do a Google images search for “beat generation” and you’ll discover the biggest names at the height of their countercultural influence - Kerouac, Cassady, Burroughs, Ferlinghetti, Gary Snyder, Greg Corso, Diane Di prima - very few were photographed in black. As some of the pics show, the Beat Generation dressed casually and functionally, according to weather and activity. Like most of us do today. Jeans and a t-shirt or sweater. Some even in corduroy sports coats and ties. (Mostly Allen Ginsberg, who looked like he was off to teach class in a mental institution after visiting his drug dealer and Einstein’s barber.) Men wore mostly thick wool sweaters, cardigans were a favorite, thick flannel shirts, working khakis, collared dress shirts, tank tops, and the eponymous black raincoat.

Women, on the other hand, tackled Big Fashion in the future by wearing men’s clothes - symbolizing their anti-mainstream, anti-establishment beliefs. They were the ones with the vision to curate their wardrobe in advance of the world’s interest in the world digging into their personal closets. Beat women preserved the eponymous black beret and the turtleneck sweater along with a handful of other select items from suffering the dustbin of history. Before proceeding, please take a moment to thank those woman.

One is named Audrey Hepburn. The movie, “Funny Face,” practically defined the “Beatnik look” for the rest of the world...in 1957. In a smoky café, she debuted the black turtleneck, slim fitting black cigarette trousers, and black loafers with white socks. Eventually, central casting and the kids got the picture: black belonged to the Beats and it stood manifest against consumer culture. Elements such as the Breton sweater went in and out of style. Loafers were appropriated by men, so women switched to ballet flats. Both took to combat boots. The beret, the hat affiliated with the French and the Beats, actually traces back to 1500 BC. Today’s beret and its wearers have Coco Chanel to thank for its resurrection in the early 20^th century.

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What else has modern culture appropriated from the legendary Beats to wear? While more people trend toward the casual bourgeoisie apparel, those who do choose black tend to drape themselves head to toe...in black. Whether they’re in formal wear or pajamas. Stroll through lower Manhattan and you’ll catch an eyeful of everyone from high school kids to retirees’ dressed entirely in black.

Black leather never goes out of style, but something about it still hails rebellion. Chunky, dark-rimmed glasses a la Wayfarer style. Simple scarves for fashion and weather. Black or a Bohemian pattern. Extra-large sunglasses. Old-fashioned pipe.

Going Beat also meant imbibing their philosophy, prose, poetry, art, drugs, and “mad” jazz music. You’d have to be anti-authoritarian. You wore the same jeans to prove your anti-establishment creds. People might view you as a troublemaker or, worse, an “outsider” for wearing jeans. Nobody takes kindly to outsiders. Anywhere. And denim was for jailbirds only.

When you want to dress like a Beat poet without becoming a walking cliché, ask yourself what you’d wear to a smoky coffeehouse or a dimly lit, basement jazz club. That’s not my way of saying you look better with less light. Or that black is slimming on you. It means to dress entirely black or only accentuate your outfit with a single black element of Beat couture. Like a beret. But not the beret sweater and the Breton striped shirt simultaneously lest someone mistake you for Marcel Marceau.

Check thrift stores for old black jeans, cigarette pants, black or purple berets, black t-shirts, black sock, capri pants, strappy sandals, boxy cropped jackets, cardigan sweaters, stretch belts, pencil skirts, and potentially something that screams that you don’t even care if people can smell you. Because the Beats were beyond society’s fashion rules as carved into stone by Emily Post. As are we all.

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Unlike their female counterparts, the gents of the Beat generation could further differentiate themselves from the establishment by wearing facial hair, which was mostly out of style in hip circles until the 21^st century. Beards were a perennial favorite of professors and made an easy transition to student culture, the flashpoint of most countercultural movements. Cultural memory also has the Beats passing down a creative variety of goatees to us - the classic full puff, the van dyke (not named after Dick), the anchor, the Lenin with its pointed chin, the pencil thin petite goatee, the soul patch, the landing strip, and the extended goatee that flows down to the chest.

Responsible men of every late historical era shaved their faces entirely, showing they had nothing to hide. Not unlike today’s managers and moguls and presidents. Can you imagine Trump with a handlebar mustache? Nevermind.

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Officially, Beat fashion is part of the urban cool look worn today in cities, towns, and suburban high schools everywhere. I think the real non-conformists today dress like the rest of society - looking otherwise would only make them stand out. The non-conformists are probably sporting hoodies and comfy pants with a pair of flip flops. True nonconformists would wear baseball hats and return the “Lebowski” look and attitude to the culture. You could be standing right next to one and not even know it.

Just in case you’re wondering, wearing black didn’t earn me an invitation to my chosen clique. Nope, adding Beat gear to my closet didn’t earn me a single new friend. But learning about the Beats themselves introduced me to authors, poets, and jazz music that I wasn’t taught in school. Seeing the depth and mania of my interest, a close friend gave me The Beat Generation Box Set, which featured recordings of live jazz performances and readings by the then still living Beats. Hearing Allen Ginberg reading Howl live took me to a different place inside myself, which is where I should have started looking in the first place. The Beats lived and created by their principles, which were largely anti-aesthetic. Rather, their fashion was dictated by anti-consumerism, anti-consumption, and mass-production. Prediction: the Beat style will continue to influence fashion (not to mention writers, poets, artists and musicians) more than any other from the twentieth century far into the twenty-second century.

Fashion trends come and go with the slip of a nip, but some looks never go stale - the Beat Generation style broke that ground. Theirs was the first wardrobe inspired by jazz. The first to be referred to as “hip.” The first to be recalled from the dredges of history and reimagined by generations far into the future. The first generation to allow Life to inspire not only their art, but their evening wear too.

Sources:

• Literary Hub. (2022). How the Beat Generation Created the Uniform for Disaffected Youth.

• The VOU. (2024). Beatnik Fashion Style Ultimate Guide for Modern Men.

• Refinery29. (2015). The Surprising, Political History of the Black Turtleneck.

• J.McLaughlin. (2021). Turtleneck History: Styles, Types & Iconic Looks.

• The Voice Of Fashion. (2020). The Case of the Black Turtleneck.

• The Beats and the Beatles: Two Sides of the Same Coin

• The Beatdom.com